A vision for the future of Portishead is beginning to take shape, with High Street improvements, new leisure facilities and more highly-paid jobs topping wishlists.

Portishead Town Council has completed the first phase of its town vision project after canvassing people to identify ‘hopes and aspirations’ of the community.

Once ratified, the town vision will eventually be used by North Somerset Council to guide planning, development, education and highways decisions in Portishead.

Ten influential figures, with a wide range of expertise, were interviewed to gauge the wants and needs of the town.

The survey highlighted ‘a need to create a variety of highly-paid, skilled jobs in Portishead to enhance the economic prosperity of the town and improve the quality of life’.

A desire for more sporting facilities, including a skatepark, was also prevalent.

The prospect of making the High Street a Business Improvement District, similar to those of Weston and Clevedon, was mooted as a way of making the most of the ‘extremely attractive yet under appreciated and under exploited’ retail area.

Most respondents bemoaned traffic issues affecting the town, particularly the debilitating affect M5 incidents can have on the Portishead’s road network.

Many raised concerns of poor communication between the town council and the public, with people telling of a ‘growing mistrust’ in the authority and need for it to be more proactive in keeping residents informed.

The survey also identified people thought the town had been subject to too much housing development, and some felt the town council failed to ‘stand up’ against developers.

Town council chairman Peter Mitchell said: “The aim of the consultations and the town vision project is to enable the community to air its hopes and aspirations for Portishead’s future.

“This information will be sent to North Somerset Council for it to use when it makes future decisions regarding the town.

“We are already working on many of the points highlighted in the report, however, the town council will now be scrutinising the findings to see where else it can act to benefit the town and help it meet the residents’ desires and expectations.”